Duke, Please Let Go of My Ankle! - Chapter 36

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“……”

Audrey had no choice but to grab his forearm and get out.

“Thank you for bringing me. Well, then I’ll be-“

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“……”

Duke Frith held her back first but remained silent for a while.

A dusky summer night.

The carriage light diffused hazily through the humid air that seemed ready to rain at any moment.

The man and woman standing beneath it looked as affectionate as lovers reluctant to part.

Derek almost wished it would rain properly. Then he could use the excuse of dangerous roads to stay together a bit longer.

“Um, excuse me……”

“Oh!”

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.

The coachman, momentarily distracted, lost his grip on the door handle, and the wide-open carriage door flew quickly towards Audrey’s back.

“Dangerous!”

“Kyaak!”

Derek cupped her head with both hands and pulled her sharply towards him.

It was an instinctive movement.

─Thud!

The solid carriage door hit Derek’s hand before bouncing back from the recoil.

“Are, are you both alright-, Oh my! How thoughtless of me!”

“……!”

“……!”

But Derek remained frozen, not even feeling the pain.

Dodori’s hands, curled up in fear, covering her head. His large hands overlapping them a beat later.

“Ah.”

All his senses were focused on the small fists beneath his palms, curled up like maple leaves.

***

Audrey tossed and turned late into the night, unable to sleep.

“But I want you to know just one thing.”

“Even if you were the one who started it, now I like you more.”

“So I’ll wait. Until the day comes when we can read letters together and laugh.”

Duke Frith’s sudden confession kept coming back to her.

The confession that came out of nowhere, without any warning signs, was somewhat unexpected.

“I knew this would happen. Being too cute is a problem……”

Audrey sighed heavily with a troubled face.

It’s not that she didn’t understand Duke Frith’s feelings at all.

Given how cute she is, what man wouldn’t fall for her?

‘Dangerous!’

What a funny person, isn’t he?

He’s the most dangerous one of all.

And that’s not all.

“……And here he was asking if I wanted to starve to death.”

Do you want your legs broken, do you want your body shattered into pieces, he even threatened her by drawing his longsword right in front of her.

He even prepared something like a wooden cart to socially bury people.

“How on earth does he claim to like me?”

These didn’t seem like actions one would take towards someone they liked.

But now that she knew his feelings, some things seemed different.

Duke Frith stayed up all night guarding in front of the Kevelson Count’s residence.

Arnold’s welcome party.

His appearance guarding in front of the duke’s mansion from dawn, as if he had come to escort her.

The gaze that kept focusing on her.

The carriage he made waited for her for just five steps.

Pouring out his personal information.

The secret warehouse that was allowed so easily.

The reason he willingly buried the fact that she was a magic holder.

And, the blind date he chased after so urgently.

Things she thought were just new forms of harassment, upon reflection, had similarities to ‘courtship’.

But that didn’t change anything.

Audrey still only had Claude, and she never intended to meet Duke Frith in the first place.

“Sigh. How did things end up like this……”

All of this was just an accident created by numerous coincidences.

But because things had gotten too big, she couldn’t even gauge where to start or how to handle it.

The tragedy began with Duke Frith falling for her, of all people.

“I should be honest, right?”

But how would he feel when he realizes he was mistaken?

He’s already confessed to Audrey, so he can’t take it back, and it would be very embarrassing.

Moreover, what if he draws his sword, feeling resentful for being deceived by her?

“……”

It seems that being honest isn’t a good solution for either of them.

Ah, then how about rejecting him, saying her feelings have changed?

“……Can I do that?”

It would be troublesome if he harbors a grudge for not accepting his feelings.

For now, Audrey is in a position where he has leverage over her, and all her family and friends are deeply connected to the duke’s mansion.

Can she guarantee there won’t be any disadvantages for them?

“……”

No matter how much she thought about it, there was no answer.

Either quietly become Duke Frith’s prisoner, or die young and be buried.

It seemed there was no way to escape from him without dying.

“I must have been crazy. Why did I decide to write a letter I never used to write……”

Ah, how nice it would be if she could turn back time!

If only she could, she would tear up that damned letter right away!

She couldn’t help but wish that Duke Frith would give up on his own.

But such a thing seemed almost impossible. Because Audrey was just too cute.

***

“Your Grace! Are you alright?”

“There’s no need for a fuss.”

“But!”

“You’re making quite a scene.”

Derek received a cold compress from the court physician with a dazed face.

His hand had gone numb, but the sensation of the maple leaf-like hand still remained on his palm.

‘How can her hand be so small?’

It was his hand that was injured, but his ears were inexplicably burning red.

Even after everyone had left, Derek paced around the room for a long time, clutching his chest.

The suddenly close distance.

The mingled scents of two people with just a span between them.

‘How can she smell so much like herself?’

The peach scent that tickled his lungs was as sweet as Dodori’s hair color.

In fact, it seemed to have mistakenly entered his heart rather than his lungs, but that was fine.

If Dodori had entered his heart, then she had come to the right place.

Just then, a knock interrupted his reverie.

─Knock knock.

“Um, Your Grace. It’s Gilbert.”

It was the coachman who had almost hurt Dodori by letting go of the carriage door.

“What is it?”

“I, I have committed a mortal sin! To dare cause harm to Your Grace’s precious body!”

“That’s enough.”

Normally, he would have reprimanded him in some way.

But today was an exception. Derek decided not to hold him accountable.

“……I gave up my hand and gained a hand in return.”

“Pardon?”

“Be careful not to repeat the same mistake in the future. You may go now.”

“I am grateful for Your Grace’s mercy!”

Strangely, when it came to matters related to Dodori, Derek became a different person.

He would become infinitely merciful, or conversely, infinitely merciless.

Like a pubescent child unable to control his impulses.

“Haah……”

Derek sat on the bed, rubbing his face dry. The heartbeat pounding in his ears was still tumultuous.

‘Still, I did pretty well, didn’t I?’

Today was quite a monumental day.

He had fended off two barbarians who could have become love rivals, and it was a very meaningful day getting to know each other through beneficial questions.

The finishing touch was his manner which flowed as naturally as breathing.

‘It was worth studying after all.’

The menu he handed to Dodori.

The door he gently held open as they left the restaurant.

The kindness of offering the window seat.

The thoughtfulness of getting out of the carriage first to check the ground.

‘But what now. I… I held her hand!’

But when he recalled the scene of pulling Dodori close as if embracing her, Derek suddenly stood up without realizing it.

He paced anxiously around the bed.

He felt he couldn’t bear it without despising himself.

‘How dare I, how dare I touch Dodori’s hand!’

Under the pretext of protecting her, what a vulgar thing he had done!

Already holding hands! Things were moving too fast.

Would he have appeared like a beast blinded by lust?

However, his hand, faithful to instinct, kept curling up.

It was exactly the size of her fist.

‘It was about this size. So small and soft-, damn it!’

This filthy desire!

He tried to organize his thoughts which had become a mess.

But in a corner of his mind, a faint anxiety arose.

‘What if Dodori misunderstands?’

Anyone who saw him today would think he was a man skilled in the game of love.

Mature manners.

The vulgar skillfulness of naturally overlapping hands!

Ah. There was no room for excuse even if he was misunderstood as the century’s greatest playboy.

‘Dodori is the only woman for me… what should I do?’

Derek despaired.

There would be no woman in the world who likes a womanizer.

Why did he always mess up one thing when he managed to do another well?

He was truly frustrated with himself for always creaking like a broken marionette in front of her.

‘This won’t do.’

Suddenly, his blood-red eyes took on a determined light.

It seems he should confess the truth to Dodori.

That he is pure at the age of twenty-five, and that she is the only woman in the world for him.

There was only one way to prove this.

***

High Priest Ethos came out barefoot to greet the esteemed guest.

“It’s been a long time. But what brings you to the temple…?”

“I heard that one can obtain a ‘Certificate of Purity’ from the temple. Is that correct?”

“Yes. It’s one of the essential documents prepared before becoming a priest.”

“I need that.”

“……!”

Ethos was at a loss.

A man who had ravaged battlefields for 7 years, committing slaughter, wants to become a priest?

God did not allow killing for any reason.

“Well, Your Grace. As you know, to become a priest, you must meet quite stringent conditions. But even if we set aside the others, the act of killing-“

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you not trying to serve God’s will?”

Derek frowned as if he had heard something terrible.

“Me?”

“……”

“I just need the ‘Certificate of Purity’.”

What nonsense about becoming a priest?

To be buried in a deep mountain temple for life, separated from Dodori?

He didn’t intend to blaspheme, but Derek didn’t worship God to that extent.

“Ah, haha. I see. I made a ridiculous misunderstanding.”

“……”

“Of course, that couldn’t be the case. Oh my. Please follow me this way!”

The High Priest led him somewhere, his face looking as if a long-standing indigestion had been cleared up.